Guardian Spirit Beast
|romaji = Shugo Reijū |classification = Parasitic Nen Beast |primary ability = Protection |manga debut = Chapter 349 |image gallery = yes}} A Guardian Spirit Beast ( , Shugo Reijū) is a parasitic type Nen beast possessed by the king and princes of the Kakin Empire.Hunter × Hunter - Volume 33, Chapter 349 They are instrumental to the unfolding of the Succession Contest. History In the age of rival warlords, Kakin was a small country that was threatened to be absorbed by its neighboring countries. Around that time, according to ancient manuscripts, the first king of Kakin conjured the Seed Urn inspired by "Worm Toxin" and had his children fight in a succession contest for the throne, which is the foundation for Kakin becoming the superpower that it is today.Hunter × Hunter - Volume 35, Chapter 362 The Seed Urn The Seed Urn, a conjured pot with some facial features, is the pivotal item for the beginning of the Succession War. The Seed Urn Ceremony The Seed Urn Ceremony ( , Kochūran no Gi) is part of the Kakin Royal Family tradition. To prove one's inheritance to the urn, the host focuses their desire for the crown and offers a drop of their blood to the urn, then puts their hand in its mouth-like opening. At this point, a purple smoke fumes from the urn with a tiny female sprite dressed in Kakin traditional clothing holding a small egg, which she inserts into the host's mouth. The princes will thus be granted a Guardian Spirit Beast when the egg hatches. The sprite is invisible to ordinary people, since it is made out of Nen, which caused Queen Oito to originally believe that the ceremony was only a purposeless tradition of the Royal Family.Hunter × Hunter - Volume 34, Chapter 360 After receiving the egg, trying to escape the Succession War will result in the fugitive's death by countless ghostly hands that appear around the person (enforcing the ceremony's conditions).Hunter × Hunter, Chapter 383 Appearance and Behavior Born from the deceased king's strong desire of perpetuation for his descendants, a Guardian Spirit Beast is a parasitic type Nen beast that possesses a person related to the deceased, feeding on their aura as an energy source and taking a shape and an ability which are influenced by its host's character and disposition. The more unsavory the prince's character, the more disgusting, obscene and threatening-looking their beast is. Since the Nen beast is not a direct creation of its host, it cannot be controlled at will. All Guardian Spirit Beasts are imbued with two primary instinctual rules: # they do not fight and kill one another; # they do not attack another human whom a Guardian Spirit Beast is protecting. Even without their special abilities, Guardian Spirit Beasts can protect the host against threats, including bulletsHunter × Hunter, Chapter 382 and other Nen abilities,Hunter × Hunter, Chapter 385 even if the host attempts to kill themselves, thus preventing their suicide. However, there is no guarantee that the protection of the host is a Nen beast's highest priority,Hunter × Hunter - Volume 35, Chapter 367 and some can leave their presence. Nen beasts may also be aware of any Nen users that are able to see it and, if not actively attacking, it simply stares back at them,Hunter × Hunter - Volume 35, Chapter 365 and some even intimidate them. The beasts can also react to their respective host's emotion, as Camilla's and Marayam's changed their appearance in accordance with the former's outrageHunter × Hunter - Volume 35, Chapter 363 and the latter's anxiety.Hunter × Hunter - Volume 35, Chapter 366Hunter × Hunter - Volume 36, Chapter 372 Some of them can even avoid showing themselvesHunter × Hunter, Chapter 386 or lack a form in the first place. Properties Each Guardian Spirit Beast is endowed with its own Nen type, which can differ from its host's. Its abilities, however, are still influenced by the host's personality and possibly also their Nen category.Hunter × Hunter, Chapter 375 A Guardian Spirit Beast cannot manifest itself while the host is in a state of Zetsu,Hunter × Hunter - Volume 36, Chapter 373 and it may find itself unable to protect its host if the latter has run out of aura.Hunter × Hunter - Volume 35, Chapter 368 The host cannot see their own Guardian Spirit Beast, nor are they able to see those of other hosts from the same generation even if they are a Nen user. Balsamilco surmised that there must be a limitation that prevents the ceremony participants from seeing the Nen beasts or a condition that must be fulfilled before they can do so. However, a host from a previous generation can see the Guardian Spirit Beasts of the next.Hunter × Hunter - Volume 35, Chapter 361 Kurapika seems to have implied that Guardian Spirit Beasts are conjured; however, unlike many Conjuration abilities, they are invisible not only to the hosts of one but also to all non-users. This makes them a low-risk ability, which should have resulted in a tremendous amount of aura being spent to infuse the 14 princes with one Guardian Spirit Beast each. He, therefore, speculated that a complex system of Vows and Limitations ensures their continued existence and that if a prince managed to pull out of the Succession War, all Guardian Spirit Beasts would disappear.Hunter × Hunter - Volume 36, Chapter 371 Curiously, despite Kurapika's inference, many Guardian Spirit Beasts have shown the ability to phase through solid matter,Hunter × Hunter - Volume 35, Chapter 369 a trait which seems to be associated with Emission.Hunter × Hunter - Volume 33, Chapter 347 Guardian Spirit Beasts Trivia * "Worm Toxin" (蠱毒, ''Kodoku'') is a type of Japanese poisonous magic, derivative of the Chinese ''Gu'' ( , or ) magic. To create it, several poisonous insects are closed together inside a jar, which is opened when only one of them remains. The surviving insect is said to have absorbed the poison of all the other insects. ** The inspiration for the Seed Urn is self-evident as the similarities do not stop at the ritual through which the members of the Kakin Empire's Royal Family obtain a Guardian Spirit Beast, but extend to the whole Succession War: the siblings are in fact forced to stay on a ship journeying to the Dark Continent while they attempt to kill each other, with the only survivor becoming the legitimate heir to the throne. Intertextuality and References * The Seed Urn's facial features highly resembles the facial features of the clay dolls from the late ''Jōmon'' period of Japan. * In Togashi's manga ''YuYu Hakusho'', an egg is given to new Spirit Detectives. After a while, a Spirit Beast will hatch from it, with its appearance, personality and powers resembling those of the one who keeps it. The whole process is very similar to the Seed Urn Ceremony through which Nasubi and his children obtained their Nen beasts. * When asked to place his hand in the mouth of the Seed Urn, Tserriednich worried it might be bitten off: this may be a reference to "''La Bocca della Verità''" ("The Mouth of Truth"). Starting from the Middle Ages, it was believed that if one told a lie while his hand was in the mouth of the sculpture, it would be bitten off. * Guardian Spirit Beasts share similarities with the following real-life concepts, myths, and/or beliefs: ** Ancient Greek religion and mythology's daemons, which originally referred to a lesser deity or guiding spirit. ** Christianity's, Islam's, and Zoroastrianism's guardian angels, an angel that is assigned to protect and guide a particular person, group, kingdom, or country. ** Islam's ''Qarins''—unseen spirits, either a ''Jinn'' ("devil") or an angel that accompanies a person and influences its host to lead an ungodly or godly life respectively. This can be seen on the royalties of Kakin of unsavory characters that have obscene, repulsive, and sinister-looking beasts. *** Tserriednich's Guardian Beast resembles Burāq (from Islam), a horse-like creature with a beautiful face (often portrayed with woman's features) that once carried Muhammad. ** Hantu Raya in Malay culture and spirituality (formerly a mix of animism, Hinduism, and Buddhism). The owner of a Hantu Raya is said to have formed a pact with a demon or inherited it from older generations as a legacy and in return for advantages and power, the owner agrees to provide for the ghost and appoints a new owner for it before dying. The creature resembles the look of its owner even after death and goes roaming. Site Poll Who has your favorite Nen Beast? Nasubi Benjamin Camilla Zhang Lei Tserriednich Tubeppa Tyson Luzurus Salé-salé Halkenburg Kacho Fugetsu Momoze Marayam Woble References es:Bestias_espíritu_guardián ru:Тотем-Хранитель Category:Kakin Royal Family Category:Guardian Spirit Beasts